ALICE TEGNÉR AND GUSTAF NORDQVIST: SÅNG, VÅR
SÅNG (SONG, OUR SONG)

Alice Tegnér’s music has been back in focus again
since the publication in 2014 of a full-scale
biography. The music, like the life, is an intriguing
mixture of light and dark and the Danderyds
ensemble get the colouring and solemn/wry tone
just right. Nordqvist is better known, even if
only for the Christmas
song Jul, jul, strålande jul which marks
the climax of the set; that,
the title song and a setting of the 23rd Psalm
are the highlights, but
Tegnér evokes a musical world so self-contained
and individual it
can’t be dismissed as just a footnote to Swedish
choral writing, but
worthy of separate study.